"When the King says he is committed to multiparty democracy, how can anyone have any doubts?" Ram Nath Pandey, appointed Foreign Minister in the Royal Cabinet
What follows are incomplete lists of persons jailed, under house arrest, and forced into hiding to avoid arrest. We will continue to update these lists as more information becomes available. Nepal Bar Association members report use of the Public Security Act which, combined with the State of Emergency, gives unbridled preventive detention powers.
Shankar Pokhrel, Director of Media Relations for the CPN(UML) reported that as of 5 February the Royal Nepal Army had a list of 1,000 people from his party who they sought to arrest. The list is divided into three categories. Category A is called "sensitive persons" and consists of people with the capacity to lead the masses, who are spokespeople and very well-known. Category B is for Central Committee Members and Category C is for general cadres. There is no reason to think that such a scheme would be applied to the CPN (UML) alone. Presumably such lists exist for all the other political parties whose members are being hunted -- which is to say all parties that have engaged in parliamentary politics since the People's Movement of 1990.
We have reports of hundreds of arrests throughout the country since the coup, and quite probably arrests running into the thousands. Active members of civil society from many walks of life, not just political party workers and leaders, are being arrested and hunted. Time Asia also reports that hundreds of students, politicians and government workers were rounded up in the morning hours just before the 10am coup announcement by King Gyanendra. Here we are listing the names of individuals as we receive reliable information.
We should note that if journalists do not appear on these lists in any numbers, it is not because the record on persecution of the press has improved (Nepal had the distinction of being declared the world's largest jail for journalists by Reporters without Borders in 2004). It is because the army has placed the entire sector under house arrest.
Please send in corrections and additions (with indication of the source and reliability of your information). Please also send news of possible or rumoured arrests, marked as such.
Lok Raj Baral, Professor at Tribhuvan University. Arrested at the border upon returning to Nepal after speaking on a radio programme in India.
Prakash Man Singh, Works and Physical Planning Minister in the last Royal fig-leaf government (to 1 Feb. 2005), son of the late Ganesh Man Singh, considered a father of Nepali democracy
Homnath Dahal, Agriculture minister in the last Royal fig-leaf government (to 1 Feb. 2005)
Bimalendra Nidhi, Education and Sports Minister in the last Royal fig-leaf government (to 1 Feb. 2005)
Prakash Mahat, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs under the last Royal fig-leaf government (to 1 Feb. 2005)
Minendra Rijal, spokesman of the Nepali Congress (Democratic)
Ishwor Pokhrel, Minister for Industry and Supply in the last Royal fig-leaf government (to 1 Feb. 2005)
Asta Laxmi Shakya, Minister for Women and Social Welfare in the last Royal fig-leaf government (to 1 Feb. 2005)
Balkrishna Khan, Minister of State for Education under the last Royal fig-leaf government (to 1 Feb. 2005)
Taranath Dahal (Chairman, Federation of Nepali Journalists)
Vishnu Nisthuri (General Secretary, Federation of Nepali Journalists)
Sindhunath Pyakurel (Senior Advocate and ex-president, Nepal Bar Association)
Lilamani Pokhrel (United Front Nepal leader and member of the last elected parliament of Nepal (dissolved May 2002)
Amik Serchan (leader, United Front, Nepal
Kalyan Gurung (student leader)
Rajendra Rai (student leader)
Kundun Kafle (student leader)
Rup Narayan Shrestha (student leader)
Guru Ghimire (student leader)
Mukunda Banskota, General Secretary, Nepal Bar Association (not confirmed)
C.P. Mainali (however, given the shameful presence of R.K. Mainali in the king's cabinet, we suspect he may have disappeared on his own, or been taken into protective custody by his brother).
22 political leaders reported arrested in Biratnagar during the first few days of the coup.
Anyone approaching the family residence of Girija Koirala in Biratnagar being arrested from the road.
Advocacy Forum reports one of its human rights attornies in Biratnagar arrested (name not available).
The Nepalganj representative of the National Human Rights Commission reported to have been called to the Army Headquarters. No word about his whereabouts or welfare. People called to this army camp over the last several years have been disappeared as a matter of course.
Netra K.C., reporter for the BBC Nepali News Service reported to have been called to the Army Headquarters in Nepalganj and has not been seen since.
Sher Bahadur Deuba, the last prime minister of an elected government (2002), and the last "prime minister" of an appointed Royal fig-leaf government (to 1 Feb. 2005)
Girija Koirala, head of the Nepali Congress Party, brother of the late B.P. Koirala
Madhav Kumar Nepal, head of the CPN(United Marxist-Leninist), the main opposition party in the last elected parliament (2002), which also participated in the last Royal fig-leaf government (to 1 Feb. 2005)
Pashupati Shamsher J.B. Rana, president, National Democratic Party (RPP), one of the parties form by the old-guard opponents of parliamentary democracy after parties were legalized in 1990. A palace confidant during the late King Birendra's reign. The British ambassador was refused access to visit him under house arrest.
Lok Bahadur Chand, several times Prime Minister of Nepal and a leader of the National Democratic Party (RPP)
Surya Bahadur Thapa, a former Prime Minister of Nepal and a leader of the National Democratic Party (RPP)
Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, a former Prime Minister and Nepali Congress leader
Ram Chandra Paudel, a senior leader of the Nepali Congress Party
Bharat Mohan Adhikari, former deputy prime minister
Badri Prasad Mandal, president of the Nepal Sadbhavana Party (Mandal)
This is an independent site created to encourage critical reflection on the conflict in Nepal, and as a net-centre for action against the escalation of foreign military funding. Send suggested links and ideas for action to: birodh@earthlink.net
